My Cherry MX-5000 ErgoPlus arrived today

[lowpoly]

Today my new-in-box Cherry MX 5000 ErgoPlus arrived which I won last week for Euro xxx,- incl. shipping. Which was a real bargain, I guess. The seller refused to send outside of Europe. He also refused all buy-it-now attempts. He said he got 40 of these between 10 and 50 Euros.

3 weeks ago another one was ended early because the item was 'destroyed'.

My seller had no idea of the value, I just was lucky that he didn't go for it. If you want to bid on one of these, send the seller a mail that he should not sell early or he will lose at the end. Or make a good offer.

My first Cherry browns. I was surprised that the tactile part is almost non-existant. To me they feel linear with a little friction. I'm happy with light action keys and do like them so far.








German 'test' magazine wasn't too impressed.




An AT to ps/2 adapter is included.


Model number is G80-5000HAMDE/03. The windows keys on the left have really strong springs.


The body halves are mainly held together by that thin angled plastic stripe. It feels like it would break if you grab one half of the 'board and don't support the other. As flimsy as it is in the air, as stable it is on the desk.


Fully extended. Forgot to pull out the spacebar though.

[itlnstln]

Congrats!  I am interesed in this 'board as well, but I am a little wary of the Cherry browns as I enjoy the sharp clickyness of the BS and Alps switches.  I'll have to find a Cherry brown 'board, and give it an honest shot.

[Waves77]

Very nice! Congrats on winning that one - it'll be interesting to hear how you like the browns after a while. It took me a bit to really appreciate them, but now they are my favorites.

[meltie]

ah, that was you sofa king, who outbid me by 100 eur :-)

[lowpoly]

^^^ I saw your bid . I figured this was my chance if I wanted one.

but I am a little wary of the Cherry browns as I enjoy the sharp clickyness of the BS and Alps switches.

The browns don't click. The most prominent noise is from bottoming out. If you don't bottom out it's from the key returning.

it'll be interesting to hear how you like the browns after a while

I'm not sure if I will use it at all. I think I got it more as a collector's item so it will probably stay new-in-box. Haven't fully decided that yet, though.

[eugenius]

I have one MX5000 too, and also a MX5700 companion number pad ... and I want to paint it black ... as soon as I get some black keycaps for it (I don't want to end up with a blank keyboard ...)

I'm not sure if all the keys can be replaced with black ones ... what do you think? Obviously I'll paint the spacebar

Is there a black alternative to this keyboard? Ergo mechanical black keyboard and number pad ... ?

Here's an older photo ....

[lowpoly]

Maybe just replace the white keys? That shouldn't give you any problems with the slant (slope?).

[eugenius]

I don't have any problems with it, it just looks like it's from another geological era next to my system ...

[lowpoly]

I don't have any problems with it, it just looks like it's from another geological era next to my system ...

That's not what I meant with 'problems'. Keycaps from different rows are differently angled. As the cursor and windows keys have non-standard positions the angles may be different compared to a std keyboard. It may look strange if you exchange them.

[lowpoly]

What's that thing in the right corner btw.?

[eugenius]

What thing? Be more specific ... as far as I know there are 2 right corners in that photo, both empty.

[lowpoly]

as far as I know there are 2 right corners in that photo, both empty.

The one behind the numpad.

[eugenius]

behind the numpad is a toshiba tablet pc mounted on a super docking station, with portrait / landscape / detachable mobile unit ..

here's a gallery with that docking station and the tablet pc:

http://picasaweb.google.com/suceveanu.eugen/PortegeM200#

[lowpoly]

The docking station is beyond cool.

Are you happy with the tablet pc?

[eugenius]

I don't have it anymore ... but it was good. Now I'm waiting for a montevina refresh to the motion le1700. The best right now is the HP 2730p.

[Spunkmeyer]

Hi,

if you are interested in that keyboard.
I want to sell mine on the german eBay website but will ship worldwide:

http://cgi.ebay.de/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&item=270334940129

Shipping to america will be much, because of the insurance: 82$

But I will look for a cheaper way to ship it.

Greetings,
Spunkmeyer

[lowpoly]

I had hoped nobody had seen it.

Until five minutes ago.

Good luck with your auction.

[andb]

This looks like a board I'd really like to try, were they ever made in a US layout, or just the international layout with a tall enter key?

[itlnstln]

This looks like a board I'd really like to try, were they ever made in a US layout, or just the international layout with a tall enter key?

I do believe they were made in the US layout, but they seemed to be unpopular as they were fairly expensive when they were still in production.  They achieve some pretty high prices on eBay when they show up.  In the US, they seem to be a lot like the M15.

[lowpoly]

This looks like a board I'd really like to try, were they ever made in a US layout, or just the international layout with a tall enter key?

That would be G80-5000HAMUS:

http://www.kbdmania.net/board/zboard.php?id=marketinfo&page=30&sn1=&divpage=1&sn=off&ss=on&sc=on&select_arrange=name&desc=asc&no=2198

[lowpoly]

BTW, is the current high bidder

a***p ( privat )
 
 

a member here? I've seen him many times.

[lal]

Hi,

if you are interested in that keyboard.
I want to sell mine on the german eBay website but will ship worldwide:

http://cgi.ebay.de/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&item=270334940129

The last 10 seconds have been exciting. I didn't bid though. Sold for 131 Euro. I expected it to be much more.

Am I the only one who's feeling a bit exploited by people registering here solely for advertising their auctions and maximizing their profit? I have the feeling we won't hear much from spunkmeyer again. Or the other guy with the M15. Makes me want to demand deleting first posts containing ebay advertisements. But I don't

[lowpoly]

Of course it's forum spamming but at least they spam us with stuff we're interested in, so I don't mind.

The last ErgoPlus where the seller would ship internationally went for Euro 150.- to Japan.

May have been similar here, the buyer bid on 187 different items in the last 30 days.

[andb]

Looks like the G80-5000 was only made 3 years. I wonder, with larger acceptance now of the ergonomic form factor, if the product would be more successful today.

"Although studies have shown that the "split keyboard layout" offers the best possible positioning of the hands, model tests carried out over the past few years have achieved an extremely low acceptance for this unusual keyboard design on the market. As early as 1994, Cherry  launched the G80-5000 keyboard model with spilt(sp) layout design. Low sales figures, however, resulted in the model being removed from the market again after just three years. According to a number of surveys and the opinion of many experts in the sector, the reason behind the low acceptance of these keyboards is the long adjustment period required due to the unusual layout. Even 10-finger typists require up to two months before they can operate the keyboard without problems. In light of this experience, Cherry has decided to focus on improving the generally accepted standard layout with regard to ergonomic requirements, and make working with the keyboard more pleasant for the majority of buyers, as opposed to introducing an ergonomically optimized product to the market which is only used by < 1% (source: GfK) of consumers."

From the Cherry web site:
http://www.cherry.de/english/service/ergonomics_requirements_keyboards.htm

[andb]

The last 10 seconds have been exciting. I didn't bid though. Sold for 131 Euro. I expected it to be much more.

Am I the only one who's feeling a bit exploited by people registering here solely for advertising their auctions and maximizing their profit? I have the feeling we won't hear much from spunkmeyer again. Or the other guy with the M15. Makes me want to demand deleting first posts containing ebay advertisements. But I don't

I don't mind it but the post should have been moved to ebay finds... While it might raise the price a bit it also makes the whole community aware that the product is for sale.

[timw4mail]

Seems like a split keyboard that isn't done very well.

[lowpoly]

I won a G80-5000HAMUS for 10 euro, including numpad and mouse
The auction had under 10 views (including me and the seller) and I was the only bidder. Seller was not disappointed I think, it was his asking price and he seemed glad it sold at all.

LOL, not bad.

[rdjack21]

Nice. I would not mind finding one of those myself.

[konz]

I used to have one of these, about 15 years ago.  At some point, the space bar developed a problem and I unfortunately threw it out.

I asked a Cherry sales guy at a trade fair once if they would reintroduce it, but he alluded to patent problems and made vague promises about a new design.   sounds like they don't intend to build any more.

[huha]

I won a G80-5000HAMUS for 10 euro, including numpad and mouse
The auction had under 10 views (including me and the seller) and I was the only bidder. Seller was not disappointed I think, it was his asking price and he seemed glad it sold at all.

Wow. That was quite a bargain.

Cherry is a cynical company that knows innovation is punished and not profitable, so they are doomed to make the same old crap.

Wrong, wrong, wrong.
They'll throw in some new crap from time to time.

-huha

[huha]

I really wonder how they sell. Laser-lettering makes these things as cheap as it gets, so there's little financial venture involved, but honestly, who buys this?

Plus, they charge an extra EUR 10 MSRP for the slightly longer time it takes the laser to draw the funny lettering on a bog-standard G83.

-huha

[eugenius]

Wow, 10 euro!!!! :drool:

[sixty]

I can name at least three or four people out my family who would probably go and pickup one of those dialect boards. But yeah, I always found them quite terrible too.

PS: For around 70 Euro you will also be able to get custom lasered G80s from the qualified distributors. I was considering to have one made with only As, just for the heck of it.

[Rajagra]

I was considering to have one made with only As, just for the heck of it.

Are you a scouser by any chance? :lol:

[sixty]

Nice you got it. Looks to be in good shape too. Congratulations.

Now go and send an email to the seller with a link to the latest eBay G80-5000.

[lowpoly]

I think the wrist rests can be removed too for a smaller form factor

I think they're part of the case. This is one of the two things that have been improved on the Siemens clone. With the other one being the angle adjustment construction.

[lowpoly]

I wonder though if one could transplant the inner.

Haven't opened my MX5000 yet but the difference between the number row and the Fn key row is bigger on the Cherry which has the LEDs in between. Which is the 3rd major change, forgot that in my last post.

[lowpoly]

Ah, NKRO diodes. Because of the diodes they couldn't use the jumper version of the switch which explains the blank wires.

Never seen the spacebar leveling mechanism before. The others are standard.

[lowpoly]

Nice!

[itlnstln]

Nice, 'board webwit.  I really need to start hunting for one of these.

[timw4mail]

A few last notes. The Filco key caps are higher and feel noticeably better. The Cherry key caps, despite being lower, are heavier (1.26g vs 0.96g for the Filco), and can be taken off by hand, unlike the Filco's. One reason for this might be that if you pull a cap, you are in fact pulling the pcb and it is a matter which has the weakest connection, the cap to the stem or the switch to the pcb. I managed not to destroy it The big key stabilizer system is just not very good. I opened the keyboard, and mostly it is a screwless afair (top half clips on bottom half). A few tiny screws, one holds the thin sheet of plastic sliding between the two units when they seperate, and it can be easily removed. No screws at all on the numpad. Also the top connection between the two units where the cable runs is easily loosened, and you can have two truly separate units. So there is no reason for the design to stay connected like it is, otherwise, probably, reasons of target audience and market - they did not want to make it too "alien." This is pure speculation though. Inside the two halves there's only a pcb with the switches, and that is it. The wrist rests can indeed not be removed, a half with rest is one piece of plastic although it is visually designed to look like a separate add-on. This board is, despite its split nature and double shot keys, one of the cheapest and most produced to cost keyboards I own. It really is a cheap piece of crap A desirable one though.

Isn't that true of the Apple split keyboard too? Cheap, I mean.

[sixty]

Cherry quality has gotten noticeably worse with the new style case on the G81/80s, the old ones are despite being entirely clipped only too of a much more solid feeling. There are a few Korean guides on how to put a simple steel or plastic plate into the newer cases to improve stability when typing, but maybe that is going a bit far.

I have only seen one G80-5000 in real life and did not get to test it much.. the ratings and review of it are terrible everywhere and even the maniacs over in Korea do not like the squid much.

[keyb_gr]

Cherry quality has gotten noticeably worse with the new style case on the G81/80s, the old ones are despite being entirely clipped only too of a much more solid feeling.

You can get the old-style case in less stable, too. (My 1996 lasered G80 had a more wobbly case than another with two-shot keys from the same year, or a 1993 G80-3000HAD. It's remained like that since then.) I think it's a matter of material (SB vs. ABS).

There are a few Korean guides on how to put a simple steel or plastic plate into the newer cases to improve stability when typing, but maybe that is going a bit far.

huha put in some kind of metal rod at the time (there's a good bit of room in those cavities underneath the PCB) and seemed to like the result.

Do keep in mind that Cherry boards have always been more on the cost-effective side of things... even the ErgoPlus boards weren't that expensive (IIRC some 170 bucks or so). I do think the current thin and lightweight keycaps (since 2002) are going a bit too far though, plus the lettering contrast was better with the beige bicolor boards compared to the grey ones (with the enlarged font they using now, it's not that bad any more, but the old lasered keys are at least equal in spite of smaller lettering, not to mention two-shot or dye sublimated ones).

[Mental Hobbit]

Over 150g. It didn't even completely bottom out yet, it's half way. Someone at Cherry was pretty scared to accidentally press these...
It's officially the heaviest switch in my collection.

I think I can beat that. The keys for programming in my G80-2100 have super strong blacks too. Tried to measure them a few days ago, but ran out of coins close to 200g. I'd like to take a look at the springs inside, but I fear for my ceiling.

[eugenius]

Webwit, it looks great with the black blank keys, but if you really want blank keys, all you need is to paint the original keys.

I wanted to paint mine black but I'm afraid I would break it ... now if I had another one, I would ... preferably the HAAUS with the F13 ...F17 keys.

Shoot me a PM with a price for that one, if you ever want to sell it.

[sixty]

I got the HAMUS from webwit today and I noticed that despite the missing extra function keys on the left, there are still solder points for them on the PCB:

Note that the "dummy keys" are melted on the bottom, so they stick to the PCB. You will have to break them loose on the bottom before removing them.

So what I tried was soldering in a switch and adding a fitting keycap:


And as I had hoped for, the keys are fully functional and recognized by the controller:


So there you have it. For all of those that have the newer G80-5000 model with Windows keys and would like to have two extra keys, go ahead and do this easy mod!

Scancodes are 103 and 104. I am going to map one of them to media mute.. not sure yet about the other.

[Mental Hobbit]

Show Image

You desecrated your G80-2100 for this? I'm appalled!

[ricercar]

I like the right/left Windows keys.  I often get them confused.

Look at your hands ripster; the left hand is the one that makes an L with the index finger and thumb.

[ricercar]

The internet is for porn!

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